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ADA Mini M: Iwagumi (56K)

37K views 140 replies 51 participants last post by  CL 
#1 ·
Hello everyone!:D

I'm new to this forum so let me introduce a little bit about me. Well, I from Malaysia but currently studying in a college here in United States (Rochester, NY). This is not my first time setting up a nano tank. Before this I've made 3-4 layouts and I learned new things each time. But I'm still far away to become an expert though:icon_mrgr.

So, here is the tank before I put in all the plants, HC and Hairgrass:





At first, the color of the stones looked about the same, but after I filled in the water, they showed their 'true colors', which was kinda disappointing..:icon_frow but nevermind, I don't have much choices though.





After 6 weeks of waiting, the tank looks like this:





I trimmed the plants twice during the interval. There are no serious algae problem except some GSA on the glass. And this is how the tank currently looks like (18/12/11):





And other photos that I would like to share :icon_mrgr:














Specs:

- ADA Mini M (approx 5.5 US gallons)
- Archae 27W lighting (I used another 20W CFL lighting for rapid growth, now removed))
- Finnex PX-360 canister filter
- Fluval CO2 88g kit
- ADA Amazonia New (Powder type)
- plants: Hemianthus callitrichoides, Eleocharis acicularis
- Fauna: Cherry shrimps, 4 young guppies
 
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#63 ·
This is my first time growing the stargrass. I really hope it will grow nicely because it was heavily infected with hair algae when I received it. Most of them end up in the bin. I only selected the healthy shoots with least hair algae on it and plant them.

I'm not good dealing with algae. Before this, I just redo all over again if there is too much algae growing. And I don't want redo this tank all over again. haha :)
 
#62 ·
The tank is now planted! :)




Is this Ludwigia arcuata emersed form?



The not so healthy HM:






The water is still a bit cloudy even after a couple water change. Some plants also float up after I turned on the filter. I just removed them. Too lazy to plant again and I don't want to disturb the soil too much.haha And it looks really messy right now...:icon_roll


I did some adjustments with the rocks arrangement. I don't know if it looks better right now but since the tank is already planted, I won't do any adjustment again. Too much work. However, I really do appreciate your comments and opinions. Let me know what you think..:)
 
#65 ·
I absolutely loooooooooooooooooooooove this tank. Especially the rock work. It's spectacular! Also, what filter are you using (name anything in-line that might be reducing the flow) and is it on full blast? I never had luck using the ADA Mini outflow on max...it would always blow the living crap out of my soil lines on the opposite side. Craters within a minute or so.
 
#68 ·
Thank you so much :) I'm using Finnex px-360 rated as 95gPH. Yes it is on full blast but I can see reduced flow rate compared to my previous setup using same filter but different configuration. This is what I did for current setup:



There are two elbow connected for both inlet and outlet so that should probably one of the factors reducing the flow rate.



Then the filter is placed lower than the tank which is not recommended by the manufacturer. This is also reduces flow rate.

Now the reduced flow rate is actually a benefit because there is no more craters formed and my slope still looks intact. The plants float up before this probably because I did not plant them properly. At the moment, the flow rate is very nice (I can see debris circling around in the tank quite fast). However, it might change when the stem plants grow tall at the back.
 
#67 ·
I'm sure it will survive. It's probably one of the most resilient plants I've kept. I've seen it come back to life from stems I was sure were dead. It tolerates heavy trimming, so you could always trim it back a lot every few weeks. If your light is strong enough, it will even stay shorter and just get bushier. Without my glass top on, mine didn't want to grow above 8 inches but it got super bushy. I'll definitely follow it rinse how it does. I'm still undecided on it for my iwagumi.

Sent from my HTC One S
 
#69 ·
Just some updates:

The water now has become crystal clear. (I love Purigen:)) Did 80% WC and will repeat it everyday for the whole week. No chemical dosing at the moment. I will start dosing after a week with K and then Iron and Flourish after 2 weeks. That depends on plants growth. I also begin the CO2 injection at 1bps using pressurized CO2.

Before this I said no craters formed with my filter flow rate. Well, I take it back because when I woke up this morning I saw small crater formed. It was not big enough to cause serious problems but just for precaution I put the empty drop checker on the opposite side of the filter outlet in hoping it will help to reduce flow rate at that particular area.









Thank you for looking. I will update again after a week or so.:)
 
#71 ·
UPDATE:

After a week there not much things to say. There were some hair algae growing on the HC probably from the stargrass. Then I put 4 hungry cherry shrimps and now no algae growth observed. Maybe I will add more cherries after this to take care some decaying plants. But now the HC looks healthy and starts propagating.




Lileopsis growth rate is very slow...haha maybe I got used to hairgrass growth rate that is why I find Lileopsis is very slow although it is rated as medium growth rate. Anyway, new shoot and runner!:biggrin:



Other plants:









What annoys me the most right now is the small stone at the right front which has contrasting color compared to other stones. Actually it is a Seiryu stone. I'm thinking to remove it and just leave that area without stone and let the HC fills in. Any ideas?



FTS:

 
#75 ·
Time for some updates:



After 4 weeks, growths in this tank is slower than I expected. The foreground is still not fully covered by the HC. Compared to my previous layout, the HC successfully covered my foreground in just 3weeks. At first I thought the problem is my lighting because the bulb I'm using is already more than 1year old so I added extra 20W 6500K screw bulb.



But still the HC did not show any improved growth rate. Then I observed that many new shoots emerged from the soil but not many visible new runners growing on top of the soil.



After I looked carefully, I realized that the shrimps actually moved the soil pellets around and the HC become buried beneath the soil that is why less visible HC growth. I sucked up the soil covering the HC every day and now more growth is observed. So hopefully in 2 weeks the foreground is fully covered by HC.

I'm planning to switch the stargrass at the back using plants with smaller leaves. Maybe Rotala rotundifolia or Didiplis diandra. I don't really like the stargrass because the leaves size is to big for this small iwagumi. Ludwigia arcuata looks good currently but man, this plant is also a slow grower. haha (I want everything fast!:biggrin:).

Other updates:
-added 5 juvenile guppies from my other tank. 1 already died. jumper.:icon_frow
-no longer using the lily pipes because of difficulties during maintenance. Much easier to use current set up.
-the odd colored stone has been removed. Thank you for your advices.:icon_smil but I can't find suitable stones to replace it..hmm..
-Started dosing 1ml Seachem Potassium, 0.5ml Seachem Iron, 0.5ml Seachem Fluorish for every 2days and 1ml Excel daily.
-CO2 set up at 2bps.
-Lighting period for 8hours.

Other photos:













Thank you for looking!:icon_smil Comments and suggestions are welcomed!

Regards.
 
#79 ·
Does anyone know the correct method to trim HM into certain shape? I observed that HM growth pattern is quite random compared to other stem plants I had before. Should I just trim them in straight line or do I have to select certain stems before trimming?
 
#86 ·
I think that looks more like hemianthus glomeritus. Leaves look much to big to be HM.

Tank is looking nice. Not what I've typically seen with a lot of iwagumi tanks. A lot more variety in flora, but still looks good. I think the variety in flora brings a bit of a different feel to it than the minimalistic iwagumi with a carpet and a background plant. It's different, but I like what you've done with it. It seems to work pretty well with your hardscape.

I do think your early concerns about the size of the stargrass might have been valid. It does look rather large in this small a tank. Maybe something with finer leaves would look good in that spot.

How did you do your trimming? Did you pull it all up and replant the tops or did you take off the tops? It almost looks to nice and neat for just cutting off the tops, at least neater than when I top my stems. It usually takes it a couple days for it to start looking good again after a big trim.
 
#89 ·
Thank you. But my tank still looks too neat. I use many plants to make it looks natural but still can't achieve that. Maybe I should add more plants maybe some moss or fissidens. But I dont think i have enough time for that right now. My top priority at the moment is to replace the stargrass with Rotala rotundifolia or Didiplis diandra or any fast growing stem plant with nice color. I'm also thinking to add a bright red color plant.

Yes, I replanted the stargrass :)
 
#93 ·
Alright, I just ordered all the plants I need. The plan now is to use Didiplis diandra as background plant and create slope from left to the middle at the point where Hemianthus glomeratus now. Then R. macrandra between the main stone and L. arcuata. M. fluvatilis will be placed behind L. arcuata. I also ordered Crypt wendtii. Maybe I will put it in front left of L. arcuata. Now I feel its going to get really crowded..:icon_roll
 
#94 ·
Alright, time for UPDATE although I'm very lazy to do this LOL~

Anyway, it is already a week since I remove the stargrass and replace it with D. diandra. There are new shoots now and so far I'm very pleased with it.:icon_smil
Mayaca fluvatilis is still adapting. I still cannot see its impact to this layout but lets wait a little longer and see whether it really improve the layout.

I decided not to put Rotala macrandra because it's too big for this tank. Last time I saw this plant it was not that big. So I decide to let it grow in another tank first and see whether the new growth is smaller. But then I found a short stem of Althernanthera reineckii survived in that tank. I'm quite surprised to see it because I can't even remember when the last time I grow it.haha:icon_surp so I transfer it into this tank. Maybe it can be a suitable replacement to R. macrandra.

And I changed my ligthing to 16" Finnex RAY 2 (9W). All I want to say is that it is SUPER BRIGHT!hahaha I exaggerate a lot but this lighting is definitely brighter than my previous 27W compact fluorescent and cheaper too. Well done Finnex!:thumbsup:

Okay, enough with words.











































All photos were taken using Canon PowerShot ELPH 300HS. Comments and suggestions are welcome!:icon_mrgr
 
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